Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 2 February 2018, which was reconvened on 8 February 2018.  (copy attached).

Resolved:

To confirm and sign the minutes of the previous meeting held on 2 February 2018.

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting.

There were no Chairman’s announcements.

The Council welcomes contributions from members of the public.

Statements

If you would like to make a statement at this meeting on any item on this agenda, please register to do so at least 10 minutes prior to the meeting. Up to 3 speakers are permitted to speak for up to 3 minutes each on any agenda item. Please contact the officer named on the front of the agenda for any further clarification.

Questions

To receive any questions from members of the public or members of the Council received in accordance with the constitution.

Those wishing to ask questions are required to give notice of any such questions in writing to the officer named on the front of this agenda no later than 5pm on Friday 6 April 2018 in order to receive a verbal response at the meeting. Please contact the officer named on the front of this agenda for further advice. Questions may be asked without notice if the Chairman decides that the matter is urgent.

Details of any questions received will be circulated to Committee members prior to the meeting and made available at the meeting and on the Council’s website.

No members of the public were present.

Any other items of business, which, in the opinion of the Chairman, should be considered as a matter of urgency. Urgent items of a confidential nature may be considered under Part II of this agenda.

There were no urgent items of business other than that set out in Minute No 47 below.

To consider passing the following resolution:-

To agree that in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the public from the meeting for the business specified in Item No. 8 because it is likely that if members of the public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Act and the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information to the public.

Resolved:

To agree that in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the public from the meeting for the business specified in Minute No. 47 because it is likely that if members of the public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Act and the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information to the public.

A confidential report will be circulated.

It is a normal requirement to give 5 clear days’ notice of a meeting but in this instance if this notice were given, it would not be possible to convene the meeting for two weeks or more due to the limited availability of all concerned, including the candidates. This would delay the appointments process further for this and other critically vacant director posts and would adversely impact upon the delivery of the Council’s business priorities.

The Committee received a confidential report by the Director, HR & Organisational Development regarding need for the appointment of a Director, Housing & Commercial Development.

It was noted that whilst it was normally a requirement to give five days’ notice of a meeting it had been necessary to convene this meeting urgently in accordance with section 100E of the Local Government Act 1972. The convening of this meeting at shorter notice was due to the limited availability of those concerned, including the candidate, as adherence to the required five clear days’ notice would in this instance mean that the Committee would have been unlikely to be able to meet the candidate for at least two weeks. This delay would affect the timescale for the appointments process further for this and other vacant director posts, which needed to be re-advertised as soon as possible. Any further delay in progressing the recruitment to these roles would adversely impact upon the delivery of the Council’s business priorities.

The Committee thereupon conducted an interview and selection process to appoint a Director, Housing & Commercial Development.

After discussion,

Resolved:

To appoint Simon Hendey to the post of Director of Housing & Commercial Development with a start date to be confirmed in due course,

subject to consultation with the Leader and Cabinet Members in accordance with paragraph 5(2) of the Officer Employment Procedure Rules.